Time
by chiyo-chan xD
Summary: We all know how Burke left Cristina and left her in pieces right? This story comes quite a while later where Cristina visits another hospital on business, where she not only meets a childhood friend, but also an old acquaintance...
1. Chapter 1

_The story line of this fanfic might be similar to a story written by another author whose name escapes me now (sorry!). That's because I had the idea and pitched it to my friend, in which we decided to co-write it together. But since she'd given up after the 3__rd__ chapter, I've decided to upload this version where I personally wrote it during the time when I was really intense on writing a Cristina/Burke story. The beginning is quite similar to the old version, but it would quickily diverge into a newer scenerio =]_

_Hope you guys enjoy! Some of the info might not be accurate (and it'd been a while since I watched GA), and if this comes to mind..please try to ignore it :) Enjoy!_

**Prologue**

In our world today, many people would agree to live a life free from any risks or surprises. Thanks to our high-tech technology and extensive knowledge, we all expect events and results to happen the way we planned – that is, if we planned it properly. If things don't go the way we planned, our world seems to go tumbling down. Such a case happened not long ago when an IVF mother expected to have one child, and only one would be enough for her and her partner. As she lies on the cold steel table, she tries to ignore the pain yet to come by dreaming about the happy possibilities she would have with her newborn and partner. But things never came her way as she ended up with twins, and to such an extent her love and mental state detoriated. Whilst many would rejoice for this miracle, her love and mental state fell as the world around her collapsed. Things didn't go her way. In some situations when we are not prepared for the worst, we either try to play the blaming game or run away from the truth. But of course, it would always come back around and smack right in front of our faces.

In the hospital, doctors receive many surprising and strange cases. However, they are trained to prepare for these events. It would become a routine, and solutions would eventually be made. But is life similar to what doctors and surgeons face everyday? If they can expect such startling cases, will they be able to handle many of life's surprises?

***

"Cristina, I need to talk to you for a moment." Meredith called from her paperwork with a hint of urgency.

"Concerning?" Cristina rushed as she hurried past her friend, coffee in hand and a cooler in another. "Work or personal?"

"Quite personal actual-"

"Sorry, no time to care. I need to go to Washington Hospital to get my heart. Later."

"Later." Meredith murmured as Cristina ran down the hallway. She still had conflicting emotions over Derek and needed Cristina's help to tell her what a jerk he really was in order to forget and think twice about him. This technique almost worked once at Joe's, so she needed more motivation to get her plan working.

"Good morning Dr Grey." Derek smiled as he walked past her. Meredith smiled back, then wished she could slap herself right there. This is not going to be easy.

Arriving at Washington Hospital, Cristina hurriedly jumped off the plane and headed herself down to where her heart will be waiting for her. It was a bright and cool day, and she was in high spirits to start her day off with a heart transplant. Thank the Lord for making humans have weak hearts, she thought happily. Inside, she looked around to meet the person to greet her with her delightful present. The hospital hallway was full of bustling nurses and doctors, just like Seattle Grace. A senior came up to her and shook her hand.

"Thank you for coming Dr Yang. I'm the person who you've spoke to about the heart?"

"Yes, yes, where is it?"

"It's safe and sound with one of my residents who are taking care of it. I'm quite busy at the moment, so you have to look for Dr Kim and he will give you the heart."

Before Cristina could reply, he rushed off and she was left along in the bustling corridor. Sighing in fustration, she made her way down to try and find a counter where she could ask for a certain Dr Kim. Along the way, she asked random nurses if they knew where he was, but many were too busy to reply to her.

_This is just great_, she frowned and kept on looking. At the end of the hallway, she stopped to see which path she would take. When she looked ahead of her, she stopped and concentrated her eyes at a tall, familiar doctor who was leaning against a counter writing down notes. _It couldn't be._

For a moment the doctor glanced up from his papers, but when he saw Cristina he looked back up with a startled expression.

"Cristina?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1**

"Cristina?"

The familiar doctor rose up from his paperwork. His serious face immediately turned into a wide smile, and Cristina knew that she wasn't mistaken. Even though the last time she'd met him was back in high school, she could easily recognise Henry's bright and cheeky smile, together with those dark childish eyes that lit up whenever she saw him. It seemed so long ago that he and Cristina were studying intensily together in order to get into med school.

"Henry, how did you-"

Before she could finish, Henry ran up and to her dread, welcomed her with a huge hug that almost knocked all the air straight out of her.

"Cristina! I haven't seen you in ages; you never call or visit! What kind of friend are you?"

"Get off me! Get off me! Get off me! Get off me!" Cristina struggled and pushed him away, only barely. Nurses and doctors in the corridors looked at them, eyebrows flying up.

"Aww, you're still the same old meany Cristina," Henry pouted.

"And you haven't changed at all, have you?" she scowled, brushing her coat down. "God I hate your stupid childish enthusiasm, especially your hugs. I hate your hugs!"

Henry chuckled and cocked his head sideways. "So what brings you to Washington?"

"Dr Kim, is there a visitor here?" a deep and strangely familiar voice asked from behind.

Henry twisted around as Cristina looked to see who it was. Her skin turned cold and everything went mute. She looked in horror at Dr Burke, standing there tall with authority. When he saw her, his eyes softened but he stared back in shock.

"Cris.. Cristina?"

_Oh my god_, Cristina gasped in her mind. She couldn't think of what to say. Her ex-boyfriend / fiancée was standing there in front of her, the man whose sudden departure changed her life and state of mind completely.

"You two know each other?" Henry asked, looking back and forth at them.

"I… I got to go." Cristina turned around and walked the other way, back to the cockpit.

"Wait! Cristina!" Henry called from the distance but she kept on walking. With no idea where she was heading, the only thing that mattered to her was to be away from that scene. Just anywhere, away from him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2**

Cristina started to run, her heart beating loudly against her chest. All she could see were blurred images flying past her, but her mind took no notice. Doctors and nurses yelped and jumped away as she ran blindly down the corridor until she reached a sign reading 'stairwell' and quickly barged through to seek privacy. Seeing that no one was there, Cristina collapsed onto the ground, breathing heavily under her breath. The image of seeing Burke replayed again and again in her mind, and his voice - which she hadn't heard for ages – echoed like an ongoing chant. She wasn't prepared at all to even deal with her feelings for Burke ever since he left, let alone meet him here.

_Shit, what do I do? _She thought frantically. _Shit, shit, shit…why is he doing here? What should I do? Is he following me? What should I say if he found me? But why would he follow me? He's the one who bloody left me! God I feel like vomiting._

Her head burrowed into her knees, she tried to keep herself together, but all she could think of was Burke's shocked and rigid expression when he gasped out her name. What does he think of me? She questioned. Does he hate me?

"Cristina?" someone suddenly opened the door and to her relief, it was Henry.

"Are you ok Cristina? What's wrong?" He crouched downed beside her, hand outstretched to comfort her.

"I'm fine." She shook away and immediately stood up.

"Are you sure? You just ran away for some reason and-"

"Yes Henry, I don't need you to tell me what I did." She scowled and returned back to her old self.

"Oh..ok then." Henry smiled unsurely but didn't pursue to question her any further. "You still haven't told me why you're doing here."

"Oh right, crap I forgot. I need to bring back a heart for a heart transplant waiting for me back in Seattle Grace."

"Really? You mean _the _Seattle Grace Hospital?" Henry gaped, wide-eyed. "So you actually got into that hospital."

"Henry, I don't have time standing here bragging about my glorious years at Seattle Grace, I need the heart."

"Oh right, right." Henry quickly turned to the door and went out. "I've heard about the heart transplant, but I didn't know it was you coming to retrieve it. I'll go and get it for you while you wait at the cockpit if you want."

Cristina looked up at him, surprised at what her friend had offered to do. She never understood how he would know what she was thinking and feeling.

"Um..ok. But I need to see if the heart is at the right condition…"

"Trust me." Henry took the container from her hands. "I'm also doing cardio, and Dr Burke made sure it was a healthy heart." He winked and left her standing bewildered at the staircase.

At the cockpit, Cristina stood waiting for Henry. She was still shocked at how fast she would meet Burke again, and also her old school friend at the same time. Henry is a nice guy, she thought to herself, but frowned slightly as she remembered how annoying and hateful he also is.

"Here it is!" a voice shouted and she jerked up to see Henry running up to her, holding the white container that contained the heart.

"Thanks." Cristina thinly smiled and took the box.

"So um…nice meeting you again." Henry said as she boarded the plane.

"Ah yea, me too." She replied over her shoulder and began to close the door.

"Wait! How-How can I reach you?"

"Huh? Um well…don't." And she slammed the door shut.

Back at Seattle Grace, Cristina successfully returned with the heart and the surgery went according to plan. The middle-age patient laid peacefully on the hospital bed in her room whilst her family quietly rejoiced at the miracle.

"So the heart surgery went well?" Meredith asked as Cristina filled in the conditions of the patient.

"With me, it always goes well." she bragged.

"So can we stop over at Joe's after work?"

"Sure, sure."

"I have done 12 straight rectal exams in the past six hours!" George suddenly came up and slammed the folders down in front of Meredith.

"Woah, Bambi's angry." Cristina smirked.

"George, I can't do anything about it." Meredith annoyingly replied back. "You're an intern and this is what interns do."

"_We_ were interns before, and _we_ never had to do straight rectal exams during the past few weeks without any surgeries." he snapped back.

"Didn't Izzie do that on her first day?" Cristina said.

"Shut up." George glowered.

"Look George, just finish them off and I promise I will let you in to one of the surgeries."

"Yeah well, they better be good surgeries." he muttered and started to trod off.

"So how was Washington Hospital like?" Meredith asked Cristina.

"You went to Washington Hospital?" George sprung back, eyes wide.

"What? It's just like any hospital." Cristina frowned.

"With a big reputation." Meredith added.

"My uncle's nephew's son works there...or was it his son's son?..."

"Look! Nothing happened at the hospital, it was just like any other hospital, and I didn't meet anyone at that hospital." Cristina fired back much to the others' confusion.

"But I didn't mention about meeting anyone at the hospital." Meredith defended, leaning slightly back away from her.

Before Cristina could reply, the breathing alarm at the patient's room went off and the patients' relatives were yelling for help. Cristina ran towards the room and checked the patient's pulse.

"No pulse." she cried as Meredith and George hurried in after her. "Call code blue!"

As the nurses rushed in, they immediately went into routine mode as they prepared to use the defiberlator. After a few tries, the heart was back to normal.

"What-what happened?" One of the patient's relatives asked, looking worryingly back and forth between Cristina and the patient.

"The heart should be right for her." Cristina said as she checked the pulse. "I'm pretty sure...I need someone to run some tests again."

"I will." George volunteered.

"Is mummy going to die?" a child cried, clutching onto his father's leg.

"You're mother's going to be fine." Meredith reassured and looked up at the patient's husband. "We just need to make sure your wife's condition is right for the heart."

"But I thought you already made sure about that." he replied.

"It can be many things." Cristina said. "The heart can be rejected by her body, or it can be affected by something else running in her system that might disrupt its progress."

Finishing her examinations, she left the room with George tailing behind her, leaving Meredith to reassure them once again and left after her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 3**

"Are you sure you didn't miss anything?" Hahn repeated on the phone.

"I'm very sure, Dr Hahn," Cristina insisted, stiffling a groan. "The labs came out clean, blood type was correct, no serious family history of any diseases, smoking, drugs-"

Hahn sighed irritably on the other end. She was sure too that the heart was perfect for the patient, but now she has to think it over again about why the body is rejecting the organ.

"Look, it's difficult and dangerous to take it out again and implanting a new one."

"Why?" Cristina frowned.

"Because one, we are short of type B hearts and two, whilst I was placing the heart into her body, I realised her veins and arteries are weak around the area of the heart. So I had to act slowly and safely in case I cut too many of her veins and arteries which will eventually kill the patient."

"Then I'll act in safety-"

"Cristina, she is a weak and vulnerable patient and you do not have enough experience to implant another heart into her." Hahn scowled. "If it wasn't for this emergency surgery at Boston, I would be there in the OR. Dammit...look I'll talk to the chief and see what we can do."

She hung up and Cristina swore under her breath. This was one of the most interesting and exciting surgeries in her life and Hahn had to push her away from it. Shoving her mobile back in her pocket, she walked out of the changing rooms and bumped into Meredith.

"Oh hey, what did Hahn say?"

"She said she'll talk it over with the chief about the second heart surgery." Cristina bitterly replied. "I'm the best heart surgeon in this hospital, I have never killed any patient before, but she still wouldn't let me into that OR."

"But she's not here, is she?"

"No, she's not. So I'm going to brutally slaugther the surgeon who's going to steal my surgery."

Near the end of the day, Cristina still hasn't received news about the heart or the new surgeon. Throughout the day, she kept an eye on the chief to see if he would come up to her and say that we've got the heart, and dammit it Cristina, you can be control of implanting it into the woman's body. Perhaps for the tenth time that day, she walked across the bridge towards the chief's office, making sure he knew she was there. Behind the glass windows, she saw two figures facing the chief. Walking closer, she suddenly stopped in her tracks as if she hit a brick wall. Badly.

Standing behind the chair was Henry, and sitting in front of him, facing the chief, was Dr Burke.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 4**

"Burke is here?" George gasped for the twentieth time.

"Burke is here." Izzie answered back, biting into her apple.

"Why is he doing here all of a sudden? Does Cristina know about it?" Alex said as he snatched a french fry from George's plate.

"Dammit Alex, get your own!"

"Look, whether Cristina knows about it or not, we must not bring up Burke in our conversation ok?" Meredith insisted and everyone nodded in agreement.

"Burke is here?" George repeated again and received a kick from Meredith under the table as Cristina came up from behind him.

"So um…how's your day?" George recovered as Cristina collapsed onto the chair next to him, a large bread roll in her mouth.

"My heart patient is dying and the chief appointed someone else to implant the heart." She bitterly answered, bits of bread flying out from her mouth.

"Oh, er who is it, do you know?" George asked and received yet another painful kick, this time from Alex.

"Oh stop being all secrety and trying to care." Cristina scowled, figiting on the other half of her bread roll. "I know who you're talking about. I saw them at the chief's office."

"Them?" Meredith replied.

"Dr Henry Kim is with him." she answered. "Another surgeon from Washington. Think they're doing the heart surgery."

"Look, are you sure you're alright?" Meredith placed a hand on her shoulder. "Cause you don't have to be in that OR.."

"Why shouldn't I?" Cristina withdrew.

"Well first, you didn't call Burke by his name." Izzie said, crunching on her apple.

"And second, you're killing your bread and dropping crumbs all over the floor." George pointed and brushed off some of the bread crumbs that flew onto his clothes.

Cristina had enough and smashed the remaining bread roll onto the table, sending everyone off their chairs. "Look, can you all stop pitying me? I'm fine, I'm doing the surgery, and I'm over him...Burke."

After a few moments of silence, she stood up and walked off.

"20 bucks that she would break down when she sees Burke." Alex smirked but received a hard punch from Izzie and Meredith instead.

"Ow ow, just kidding, kidding."

"Do you have any idea what Cristina is going through?" George glared at him.

"What? As bad as you being dumped by Torres?"

George went silent for a moment, then unexpectantly pounced on Alex, throwing punches in the air.

"George! George! Stop it!"

"Damn it George, he didn't mean it!"

"Alex, apologize!"

"I'll kill you!!!!"

'Bring it on Georgina!"

The chief approached Cristina as she went to check on her patient. A look of concern crossed his aged, wise face.

"Dr Yang, a moment?"

"Yes chief?"

He went over and stood in front of the patient's bed as Cristina noted down the last few numbers into the folder.

"Cristina, I'm guessing you know who I've chosen to transfer the heart into Mrs Ford."

Cristina hesitated silently before she replied, "Yes, I do chief."

"And I hope you're feeling alright with who this person is." he lightly explained. "He was recommended by Dr Hahn and the only surgeon who is capable to safely do the proceedure. And since he used to be a collegue here-"

"I'm fine, chief." Cristina forced a smile. "I'm fine with Dr Burke taking over the surgery."

The chief paused as he studied her expression.

"I know it's hard to get over the past, and this may not help you to progress through." he slowly stepped closer to her. "If you have any concerns with the surgery-"

"Dr Burke's presence will not interfere with my work sir." Cristina firmly replied. "I believe I can seperate my personal life from my work, Dr Burke will not cause any hendrence."

The Chief sighed. "That...is good."

"But sir, can I ask for a request? Since you mentioned the surgery..."

"Yes? What is it?"

Cristina paused, wondering if her decision would soon turn to regret. But she went over this before and decided not to step out again.

"Is it alright if I stayed out of the OR? Since there are two surgeons inside, I don't think they need a third one."

The Chief stared in astonishment at Cristina's request. This was not her nature to step down from an open heart surgery. But gathering what she had been through and what he'd gone through similarily before her, the Chief let this one go.

"That's fine, Dr Yang. I shall inform Dr Burke and Dr Kim about the change."

He gave a thin smile and walked out. Cristina stared after him, wondering again if that was a good decision or not to make. The patient was hers, but she was not going to be present at her surgery. Cursing in her mind, she made an effort not to think about Burke and continued with her rounds. This was not her day.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 5**

Instead of being at the scene, Cristina watched in the ampitheatre above. She'd almost forgotten how Dr Burke's skill and precision had made her watch in awe. From time to time, she couldn't help but look up from the body to his face, then pinched herself before looking away again. It seemed like the old times when she was still an intern looking onto Burke's surgeries when he was still a resident at Seattle Grace. All the extra nurses and doctors worked like he was still here, like nothing had changed.

Perhaps what Cristina didn't notice was when she looked back down at the new heart, Burke would steal a glance up at the glass theatre and see Cristina. This was the only time he could see her properly without avoiding her glance in the corridors when he will soon finish this surgery. He still had mixed feelings for her, but thinking about it made him stressed and unable to concentrate.

"Sir? Scalple?" Henry interrupted his thoughts and Burke quickly took the intrument from the nurse's hands. The sooner he leaves this hospital, the better he will feel without glancing everywhere looking out for Cristina. After what he'd did, it was best not to approach her in any way he could.

It was a cool night, and Cristina sat outside on the window's sealing staring out into the carpark. The patient came out alive and well with a new, healthy heart, and no problems had happened so far. After a few days, she will be out of the hospital. Cristina sighed into the cool air, throwing her head back and looking up at the cresecent moon. The day started out fine for her, until she went to Washington Hospital. It all went downhill from there.

"So there you are!"

Cristina jolted back up as she saw Henry come up, smiling at her.

"Why are you doing here?"

"To think." Cristina replied and sank back down. Henry sat down beside her and gave out a satisfying sigh.

"Why are you doing here?" she asked back.

"I asked you this morning on how I will be able to reach you." he said. "I didn't get an answer. So I decided to come all the way to Seattle Grace to meet you."

Cristina frowned, wondering if her friend was only joking. Seeing no hint of jest in his expression, she let out a short laugh and shook her head.

"God I never get you Kim. Even back at school I never did."

Henry smiled sweetly back at her. "And yet you always stuck by me."

For a moment he held his gaze on her, and wished they were still back in high school. Cristina felt uneasy about his stare and tried to pretend that a passing car had caught her attention.

"Sang-hee," Henry referred to her Korean name, deciding to switch back to their home language. "We've been together ever since we were little kids. Even though we always fought and you always ended up beating me, we still stuck together as best friends. Even in high school, we didn't hang around as much as before, but we still talked, we still studied together, and we both looked out for each other."

"I didn't really look out of you." Cristina muttered in English.

"But I looked out for you!" Henry exclaimed. "Sang-hee, ever since high school...you should've known how I felt about you."

Cristina slowly looked back at him, surprised at how soft and gentle his eyes has become.

"That was high school." she replied bluntly. "And besides, I don't like how this conversation is getting to-"

"My feelings still haven't changed." Henry interrupted, grabbing onto her arm before she could move away.

Cristina couldn't say anything. She didn't want to hurt her friend, nor want to start any sort of relationship yet.

"Henry...I can't start anything at the moment."

"I know." he sighed and looked back up at the sky. "I've heard about you and Dr Burke from your mother just after you left. I wondered why you acted strange when you saw him."

He turned his head towards her with an understanding but tired smile.

"I know it's hard for you at the moment, and I don't want to rush anything. But if there's anything you want, I will surely be willing to help you."

When he didn't get a reply, he tried another approach.

"I know he's my boss, but I will not hesitate to throw a punch at him for you."

This brought a tiny smile from Cristina and it was enough for him to pursue his ambition.

"Well if I have anything in mind, I'll ask." she said. "So when are you leaving?"

"Leaving? Who said I was leaving?"

Cristina looked back in confusion. "Aren't you leaving Seattle to go back to Washington?"

"Course not." Henry smiled and jumped back down onto the path. "I still need to finish the task I'm aiming to do here in Seattle."

"What?"

He pointed at her, hand shaped like a pistol. "To take you out on a date."

As he walked off pleased with himself, Cristina stared after him in disbelief. This was surely not her day.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 6**

Time can always be something that we love or hate. When we look back, you wonder if something could've changed the present, and if the choices we made in the past could've influence our lives today. But then there are a few of us who just like to look back at the past and smile at our childhood, wondering how fast it already has been when there was no independence and responsibility. Though have you ever wondered if there were people who you've barely met back then have suddenly become a major part of your life now? Of course you never took notice of them at first, but if there was a chance where you could film your entire life and catch all the people you've associated with, it's surprising at whom you will see.

* * *

"_Ow Cristina! You're hurting me!" the little Korean boy cried out as the slightly chubby friend of his continued to crush him down onto the grass._

"_Not until you say mercy!"_

"_I've said it five times! Mercy!"_

_Finally the girl gave a cheerful grin and released her victim._

"_You're so weak Henry. You even got beaten by a girl."_

"_Or maybe you're just a boy in a girl's body."_

_Cristina punched him hard on the arm, receiving yet another agonizing scream._

"_OW!"_

"_A boy is not supposed to cry. You cry baby. Cry baby, cry baby," she chanted mockingly, then stopped as she saw the seriousness in Henry's face as he started to cry._

"_I-I didn't mean it, Henry. Please don't cry."_

_Seizing this chance, the boy pushed her hard onto the ground and pinned her down like she did to him before._

"_Haha! Got you!"_

"_Argh, damn it Henry, I hate you!"_

"_Cristina swore! Cristina swore!"_

_From behind them, Henry's mother came out of the house and waved him back in._

"_Henry! Lunch is ready. What are you doing to Cristina? You're supposed to be a gentleman, gentlemen are not supposed to hurt ladies."_

_Cristina sniggered as Henry pountingly released her._

"_But she started it-"_

"_Cristina, your mother told you to return back home for lunch."_

"_Ok, good bye Mrs Kim." Cristina sweetly smiled and made a face at Henry when his mother's back was turned._

"_Mummy! Cristina made a face at me!"_

_But Cristina had already ran out of site. Down the familiar street she ran, passing all the big white houses where each were protected by tall, metal fences. It was a sunny day, as it always was in Los Angeles. Cristina darted across a corner, passing a barking dog owned by a snivelling old man who watches from his window day and night, and prepared to run across a road. She was excited about returning home because her mother has cooked her favourite mince pie and if she wasn't quick enough, her brother and father would eat it all. Because of that, she didn't see a car turn around the corner and instead of stopping, she couldn't control her speed and tripped over her ankles onto the road. The car skidded and turned to a halt, inches away from Cristina's head. Cristina's heart was pounding as she listened to a person coming out of the car._

"_Oh dear lord! Are you alright little girl?" a dark-skinned woman gasped and helped her up._

_Cristina sniffed and yelped in pain as she realised that she'd scrapped her leg and it was bleeding madly. The woman was horrified when she saw the damage and started to ramage through her purse for tissues._

"_I am so sorry, little girl. I didn't see you..oh it's all my fault! I should've let my husband drive out here but he had a meeting back at work so I had to drive my son all the way here to meet his sick aunt,"_

_As she ranted on, Cristina stayed still as she softly cleaned her wound. Sweet purfume was coming out from the woman's hair, and this helped her calm down._

"_Now lets get you a bandaid." the woman smiled. She rammaged through her bag again, then frowned as she seemed to be missing something._

"_Oh dear, one moment. Preston!"_

_A young voice called out from the car. "Yes?"_

"_Can you get – um – what's your name my dear?"_

"_Cris-Cristina." she managed to say._

"_Thank you dear. Can you get Cristina here a square bandage from the first aid kit at the back?"_

_Before long a young tall boy came out with a bandage and handed it over to his mother. _

"_Is she alright?" he asked her mother, looking concerningly down at Cristina's wound._

"_She'll be fine. Just a fall." his mother smiled up at Cristina. "This is Preston, my son. He's going to be a doctor one day."_

_Cristina slowly turned her head up to get a good look at him, and was greeted with a gentle smile. She quickly looked back down at her leg, her face flushing red._

"_There we go." the woman finished placing the bandage onto her leg and helped Cristina up._

"_Can you walk?"_

_Cristina nodded, wishing to leave them as soon as possible. She was late for her mum's pie. _

"_I'm ok."_

"_Alright then. Once again, I deeply apologize for making you fall like that. I will never forgive myself if I ran into such a pretty girl like you."_

_Cristina only smiled and quickly ran away. _

"_Good bye Cristina!"_

_Cristina stopped at a corner and picked up her courage to look back at them. The mother was waving at her, whilst her son gave a friendly, reassuring smile. She then left them and ran back home. _

_

* * *

_

[12 years later]

"_Cristina, aren't you afraid that the teacher will catch you drinking again?" Henry asked as Cristina drank down her last can and threw it squarely into the bin across from her._

"_Oh come on, what will they do?" she sniggered and burped into Henry's face. "Besides, why would they expell their number 1 student from their school?"_

"_You do know that the exams are very close." Henry said as he watched her grab another can from her bag._

"_Yea? So?"_

"_Perhaps you should study? You know if you fail them you won't get into medschool."_

"_The exams are eeeeasy." Cristina crooned. "They will get serious when you're in medschool though."_

"_Right." Henry laughed and packed his books up before the start of lunch bell rings. "And next time if you want to drink with me, can we not do it in the library?"_

"_Sure, sure."_

_On time, the bell shrilled and Henry swung his bag over his shoulders as he got up._

"_Oh yea, have you heard? This guy is coming to speak to us during lunch, and apparently, he's a very famous surgeon."_

"_Oh yea? Who's this chap?"_

"_His name is Dr Burke, and even though he's only a first year resident, he's already well known around Seattle Grace and everywhere else."_

_Cristina didn't look one slight interested._

"_Oh come on, you haven't heard of _the_ Dr Preston Burke?" _

"_Who the hell would name their child Preston Burke? That's so lame."_

"_You're drunk, aren't you?"_

"_Maybe." she slowly got up and took her bag. _

"_So are you coming?" _

"_No. I'm gonna eat then sleep throughout lunch. Tell me if he says something interesting." _

"_Why don't you come and see for himself? The girls have the hots for him already apparently."_

"_Pfft, I know those sorts of people. You think he looks cool, smart and professional, but truthly speaking, he doesn't know what he's doing, and only stole the idea from some other old, ancient fart and before anyone suspected a thing, he killed him and made it look like an accident." _

"_Ok, you're really drunk. Go and lie down somewhere before you make a fool of yourself."_

"_Like I already said, I'm not drunk!" she aimed a kick up his backside but Henry smoothly jumped away and left the study room. _

_When the lunch bell rang for the start of classes again, Cristina moaned and slowly got up from where she was sleeping – on top of her car. Rubbing her sore neck, she jumped down with her books and made her way back to the school building. As she neared the entrance, a sudden group of people burst out from the doors. Most of them were girls, and they were surrounding the principal and a tall dark-skinned man in a white coat. Cristina moaned and fought her way through the crowd to the door. The girls were screaming and asking lots of questions, and Cristina only caught one of them which was "Is there an unlimited supply of condoms at the hospital?" With her strong, muscular strength, Cristina managed to clamber her way through half of the group and then she hit someone hard on the side which almost made her tumble back. _

"_Woah sorry, are you-"_

"_Watch where you're going!" Cristina burst out angrily up at the man and continued charging her way through the group and finally into the school building._

_She saw Henry ahead of her and ran up beside him._

"_Hey."_

"_Hey, where were you?" Henry asked._

"_Sleeping. How was the talk?"_

"_Hm? Oh, it was great. He's amazing Cristina, if I get to meet him again one day, I swear I'll be so honoured-"_

"_Ok, now you're acting like a fangirl."_

"_I want to do cardio Cristina. I'm sure of it."_

"_Well, go through the exams first before you start dreaming. Is he still here?"_

"_Um no, he just left." Henry looked back but the doctor and his group of fangirls had already gone. _

"_Oh that's too bad. I really wanted to see him, but instead I bumped into this jerk who couldn't see where he was going."_

_Before Henry could reply, a girl suddenly came up to them and her face was flushed pink._

"_Hi Henry." she smiled shyly at him._

"_Hi Rose, how are you?" Henry smiled sweetly back. Cristina grunted annoyingly and impatiently waited._

"_Um Henry, the school dance is in two weeks after the exams, and I was wondering if...if you could be my partner."_

"_I would love to be your partner Rose, who could resist your cute charm?" Henry exclaimed. "But unfortunately I already have a partner. I'm really sorry Rose. Perhaps we could go out for lunch or something instead some other time?"_

"_Oh really?" Rose's face brightened. "That's great! Thanks!" And she ran off with her giggling group of friends._

"_Gees, a lot of girls are asking you to the stupid dance." Cristina said as they continued down the hall._

"_Yea well, who could resist my irrisistable charm ey?"_

"_Ha! Right, charm." she rolled her eyes._

_There was a slight pause as they walked down silently to their classrooms. Henry first broke the silence._

"_So um Cristina, are you going to the dance?" he looked at her, eager for a reply._

_Cristina took no notice of his expression. "Nah, I'm gonna study for medschool."_

"_But you haven't taken the exams yet!"_

"_But I'm sure I will be selected. And when I enter medschool, I can answer all the questions, ace in all my classes and quickly graduate so I can become a surgeon."_

"_So you're not going to the dance?"_

"_Nope."_

_Henry looked away in disappointment, but quickly recovered as they were about to split ways to their individual classes._

"_See ya Cristina." he said as she walked off the other way._

"_See ya." she replied back without turning her head, but made a faint gesture with her hand. _

_Henry smiled softly as he stared after her. When she disappeared around the corner, he sighed and turned around to walk the other way._


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 7**

"So you're wishing to tranfer to Seattle Grace, Dr Kim?" the Chief asked, studying closely at the young Washington doctor.

"Why yes sir," Henry confidentally replied back. "I believe Seattle Grace will give my career a great, significant push to gain greater heights, and I assure you, I will surely become an important asset to your hospital."

"Oh really? You sound very sure about yourself."

"Why of course. I'm one of the top heart surgeons in Washington, and after coming here for the previous heart surgery, I have grown very interested in your department."

"And what do you like most about my department, Dr Kim? How is it different from Washington?"

"Well," Henry hesitated, looking around him as he thought. "The uh..place is um.. clean and bright. You have wonderful doctors and nurses. The hospital is well kept, you have very high tech equipment, the beds are wonderful and the coffee is great-"

As the Chief continued to decide if he should accept him or not, someone knocked on the door.

"Ah, Dr Burke, just in time." the Chief exclaimed cheerfully.

"I'm ready to leave earlier today sir." Dr Burke smiled back. "I was just wondering where Dr Kim was so we could prepare our departure from Seattle Grace."

Before Henry could reply, the Chief happily answered for him.

"Well, Dr Kim just asked me if he could transfer here to Seattle Grace."

Dr Burke looked sharply at Henry, to which Henry tried to avoid his gaze by looking at the prize statue on the Chief's desk.

"Oh really? I believe he didn't mention that to me this morning." Burke said, hinting to Henry that he was in deep trouble.

"And as his boss, I believe you have to give him consent to transfer here." the Chief's eyes sparkled as he looked from Burke and back to Henry, amused at how Dr Kim's proud atmosphere around him has changed dramatically.

"Indeed," Burke replied. "Well if you excuse me Chief, I like to have a little word with Dr Kim before we make any big decisions."

"You asked the Chief to transfer here before consulting me?" Burke slammed the door of the empty room behind them, making Henry jump as far away as possible from him.

"Wa-well, Dr Burke, I was quite impressed of Seattle Grace and I believe I could do many things in this hospital that could further my career..."

"Further your career? Is Washington not good enough for you?"

"No! No! Washington is wonderful!" Henry nervously laughed, hands flying up in defence. "Washington has helped me become a skilled surgeon ever since I arrived as an intern."

Burke's anger slowly subsided and he looked away from him.

"We'll be losing a very skilled and gifted surgeon."

Henry also calmed and felt glad that his superior had commented greatly on him.

"Why thank you, sir. It's all because of you sir, you've patiently become a great mentor to me."

Burke smiled and his expression changed as if he's looking at Henry from his student to his friend.

"Henry, if it wasn't for you, you know I wouldn't have fitted into Washington properly after transfering there."

"It was my duty sir." he then paused. "Sir? Why don't you come back to Seattle Grace? You said before, if I leave, then the hospital will be liable of a very skilled and gifted surgeon. I believe when you left, Seattle Grace lost a very gifted surgeon as well."

Burke narrowed his eyes and Henry knew he'd touched a sensitive area. He decided to change the subject.

"Ah sorry sir, I know you have your reasons. Um, if I'm to transfer here, you have to sign this form as my superior."

Henry took out a form from his pocket which was given to him by the Chief earlier before. Burke sighed and slowly took the form from him and a pen from his pocket.

"I regret doing this, Kim."

"I know." Henry smiled back.

As he signed the paper, Burke said, "I hope Seattle Grace will please your career aspects. You are always welcomed back to Washington."

"Thank you sir. It will sir. Besides...I have an old friend who works here, I think she'll help me settle down in Seattle Grace."

"Really?" Henry detected some amusement in Burke's tone. "How convinient of her to generously give that offer to you."

Henry chuckled along with him. "Haha, right. She's actually a practicing surgeon, just like me."

"Oh? What's her name? I might know her."

This was the jackpot. "Her name is Cristina. Cristina Yang."

Like an alarm bell, hearing the name made Burke turn sharply towards Henry, wide-eyed with shock.

"You know of her sir?" Henry amusingly asked.

"Why um...yes. I do. Are you good friends with her?"

"We're old childhood friends." Henry took the filled form from his hands and made his way out. "Well, at least for now." Henry looked back with a knowing grin as his boss's horrified face before closing the door behind him. He stiffled a laugh as he made his way back to the Chief's office, Burke's shocked face at the mention of Cristina in his mind. As much as he knew him, if his boss' actions were just as he has predicted upon working at Seattle Grace, then this game of his will become very interesting. _Definitely interesting._


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 8**

"So what kind of guy is Henry?" Meredith asked as they settled down for lunch after a long day of rounds.

"Horrible."

"Horrible? But you said he was your friend."

"Yeh well," Cristine searched for the right words to say. "He's a kind of person whom I don't want to associate with alot, but he's also a family friend who I always used to beat up to strengthen my self-confidence and pride."

"Lovely. I can see why you guys were so close."

"We weren't close." Cristina snorted. "Henry was one of those popular guys at school who loved sports and had all the girls yearning to get into his pants. He's too...happy for me."

Her pager beeped and Cristina got up ready for checkups again.

"Is he cute?" Meredith asked as she took a chunk out of her sandwiche. Cristina looked at her as if she said something offensive.

"You're asking me to judge Henry?"

"Well didn't you have any slight thoughts about his looks?"

"Dude...no." and she walked off.

As Cristina took the folders from the nurse and Lexie scuttled over to follow her resident, Henry came over with a wide grin on his face.

"Good morning Dr Yang."

"I'm busy, don't talk to me." she said and walked away, studying her notes.

"But aren't you a slightest bit happy that I have transferred to Seattle Grace?" Henry continued as he retrieved a case from the nurse and hurried after Cristina.

"So you have? I'm happy for you." she replied back, uninterested.

"And since I'm new here in Seattle, perhaps you can help me get settled in?"

Cristina suddenly stopped and looked up annoyingly at Henry. "Dr Kim, don't you have work to do now that you're working here?"

"I do. I'm taking the same path as you to the east wing." Henry smiled and waved the case file in the air. "And whilst I'm at it, I'm also getting to know the hospital and my new colleagues." he turned to Lexie. "Hi, I'm Dr Kim. It's a pleasure to work with such a bright young intern as you."  
"A pleasure to meet you Dr Kim. I'm Lexie Grey." Lexie warmly shook his hand.

"Lexie 'ey? I will surely remember you, Dr Grey." Henry grinned, expression full of charm.

This made Cristina really frustrated. "Look, this is not a dating session, we are here to treat sick people. And if you excuse me Dr Kim, which way are you actually going?"

"Um, the sick patients floor I believe-"

"Good, take the elevator to your left and you'll be there in no time." And Cristina starts off down the right hallway with Lexie hurrying after her. But she soon stopped in her tracks again when Dr Burke came up from around the corner. Seeing each other, they both looked surprised and speechless, unabling to mouth any sorts of words or greetings. Feeling the awkwardness in the air around them, Dr Burke quickly turned away and walked towards Henry.

"Dr Burke! You're still here?" Henry happily chirped.

"Yes...I've decided to stay in Seattle for a while."

Cristina twisted around as Henry and Burke entered the elevator. Before the doors closed, Henry stopped and glanced over at her. With a tiny smirk, he slipped back into the elevator, leaving Cristina standing frozen in the hallway._ Damn you Henry._


	10. Chapter 10

_NOTE FROM AUTHOR: Wow, I didn't know I would have alerts so soon =) Thanks to those who've commented and enjoyed reading the previous chapters! Personally when I read it after a year, I never knew how many grammer mistakes I made, lol. When I wrote this, I wanted to make Henry a good, friendly guy, and pictured him to be like those hot Korean celebs (such as Siwon or Kibum from Suju; but if you don't know what I'm talking about, just ignore me! Lol). However when I read this again, he actually seems kinda wierd for Cristina, haha...(but that's the point, heheh :]) Anyways, enough of me rambling, enjoy!_

**Chapter 9**

Whilst Cristina and Lexie injected IV liquid into their patient, Lexie picked up her courage to talk about Henry.

"Dr Kim seems nice. Is he a close friend of yours?"

"Grey, don't talk unless I either ask you to, or if there's a better case other than injecting IV's into patients all day and you're telling me that there's a guy down at the pit missing his arms and legs after a freak accident and is still alive."

"Um..." Lexie faltered a bit and continued her job. After a few moments, she started off again. "Was that other doctor Dr Burke? Is he staying?"

Perhaps at the worst of time to mention his name, Cristina jerked her hand whilst injecting her patient's arm, making the patient yelp in surprise and pain. Cristina ignored him. Lexie looked nervously up at her and received a cold, icy glare.

"Sorry, sorry, none of my business." she quickly apologized and finished her job, shifting away from Cristina as far as possible.

The next time Cristina caught Henry in the hallways was when she sent Lexie off to do some tests and caught Dr Kim reading off some charts whilst coming down towards her. She quickly grabbed his arm and shoved him into an empty on-call room.

"Ow, ow, now what did I do?" Henry innocently exclaimed when she pushed him hard down onto the bed.

"Henry, even though my reputation is high here in Seattle Grace and I don't want to leave the job that I love most, I will not hesitate to wring your neck and leave you here dead in this room, telling the Chief that you accidentally fell off the bed and broke your neck."

"Now that's un-called for."

"Why are you doing here? Why is-" she stopped and leaned forward in a sharp whisper. "Why is_ Burke_ doing here?"

"I told you, I came here to achieve what I want to do." he then added with a cheeky grin. "To take you out."

"That's just ridiculous! Go back to Washington!"

"I also want to forward my career here."

"That's bull Henry!"

"Do you have a problem with me being here, or with Dr Burke being here?"

This made Cristina stop, as suspected by Henry.

"Why is _Burke _doing here?" Cristina repeated coldly.

"Dr Burke is my mentor, he has his reasons. Why don't you go up and ask him if you're so interested? Now, if you'll excuse me, if you have nothing else to talk to me about, I shall go and check on my patient."

Henry got up and left Cristina standing there, fuming over the answers that she'd received from him. When he opened the door, he turned back and added, "Unless you've decided to go out with me?"

Cristina turned to him in disgust.

"Ok, maybe not now." And he closed the door.

"It's good to have you back, Dr Burke." the Chief smiled as Burke sat down opposite him in his office.

"And I'm happy to be back in Seattle Grace." Burke acknowledged proudly.

"Your departure was a great liability to our hospital. It's grateful now that we can have you back. But of course, for your return I can't immediately give back your position as chief of cardio surgery."  
"That I understand sir." Burke nodded.

"Good. I believe you will easily settle back into Seattle Grace without any problems." the Chief then leaned forward, addressing a more private and personal matter. "But Preston, let me tell you that even though your reputation as a surgeon is still instact, there are some here who will look to you differently than before."

The indication was clear to Burke. His whole body went rigid at the thought of Cristina.

"You know what I'm talking about, don't you? Now, I know I don't allow personal matters to interfere with the work in this hospital, but as the Chief I too have some personal feelings and doubts. I'll be lying if I didn't doubt you after the actions you took when you left."

"Chief," Burke clearly interrupted. "I had to leave due to unforseen circumstances in my life and career. This has...this has nothing to do with her."

The Chief sighed and leaned back, looking exhausted. "I know, Preston, you had your reasons and you can keep them to yourself. However, for the hospital I need to make sure that you and Cristina can effectively work together. She is going to be one of the most successful surgeons of our hospital, and I don't want any more interuptions in her career."

He paused as he studied Burke's solid and unexpressionless face. But in his eyes there was a hint of sadness and guilt.

"I understand sir. I will do the best I can."

"Good. Now, Dr Hahn is busy doing a surgery elsewhere from Seattle and she won't be back for a few days. The position has been given to Dr Linkin."

"If there's nothing else sir, I will go back to my rounds." Burke started to get up. The Chief nodded and he left, sensing Burke's power and pride drain from him as he went.

As Burke made his way across the bridge, he decided that he needs to act quickly and talk to Cristina. But what about? What can he say to his ex-fiancee after leaving her on the alter and letting her suffer whilst he was gone? He didn't deserve to face her again. But if he tries to explain to Cristina the reasons for his departure, perhaps she could show a bit of sympathy? But it still wouldn't lead her to forgive him after what he'd done.

Confused about what he should do, when he reached the end of the bridge, Cristina unexpectantly came out. They stopped and stared at each other for a while, thinking about what they should do next. Say hello? Smile? Ignore? Nod? Give some sort of gesture or indication about what they were feeling or wanting to say?

"Dr Yang." Burke replied.

"Dr Burke." she answered and they walked off in opposite directions.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 10**

During lunch, Cristina and Meredith met up again.

"So what are you planning to say to Burke?" Meredith asked, seeing if there was any indication of sadness or grief in her friend's expression.

But she didn't give her any.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Absolutely nothing."

"Well you've got to say something some time."

"Why don't you say something to him?" Cristina annoyingly snapped back.

"Because this has nothing to do with me."

"And there's nothing to talk about."

The conversation landed to a halt as Henry and Burke walked passed.

"Hey Yang! Grey." Henry greeted, winking at them both as he walked passed. Burke tried to avert his glance elsewhere.

Cristina looked curiously back at Meredith.

"What?"

"You know Henry?"

"Yes. He's a surgeon on one of my cases. Friendly guy. I say he's kinda cute."

"You have no idea how many times I've heard that from girls like you talking about that freak" Cristina moaned and slumped down onto her chair, tearing at her bread roll.

"Maybe your taste is just weird." Meredith rebuked.

"It is." Cristina glowered, staring off at where Burke and Henry walked off to. Meredith suddenly realised what she'd said and wished she'd taken it back.

"Oh Cristina, it's obvious you want to say something to Burke."

"No I don't! I will never speak to that man ever again as long as he's still alive and walking. Until he's either permenantly paralyzed or lying flat on that surgical table, I will then say what I have to say whilst madly wielding a chainsaw in my hands."

_Ok, all I have to say to him is that it's over. _Cristina thought over and over in her mind whilst fundling over her patient's folders. Lexie recognized the strange uneasiness coming from her resident.

"Are you alright Dr Yang?"

"I'm fine." she firmly replied. "Have you got the results of Mrs Flemming for me?"

Lexie gave her a sheet of paper and Cristina studied over it quickly.

"Good. Go to Dr Shepherd and tell him to start surgery on her, or else she'll go vegie if we don't act fast."

Nodding, Lexie took the results and the patient's folder and hurried away. Cristina went the other direction, heading for the cardio department. At times she would stop and plan to turn around. But after a while she would turn back and continue ownwards, muttering incomprehensible words under her breath. This caused some strange glances from the nurses and doctors who were passing her. Eventually, Cristina reached the floor of cardio and she could feel her heart beating loudly against her chest. Wishing that Burke wasn't around, she glanced from corner to corner and sighed in relief that he wasn't there. _Good, I don't have to talk to him. Now I can tell Meredith that I tried to look for him, but he wasn't around-_

"Are you looking for something Dr Yang?" a voice interrupted from behind and Cristina jumped around, surprisingly facing Burke.

"Um, I was just-er- looking for this..thing.." Cristina fumbled for words as Burke looked down at her with suspicion, eyebrow raised. As much as he knew her, she was up to something.

As Cristina tried to string sentences together, she realised they were next to an on-call room and thought that this might be the only chance that she could approriately talk to him. Breathing in to build up her courage, she suddenly grabbed him hard by the arm like she did to Henry and dragged him into the empty room.

"Ow, ow, what the hell are you-"

"We need to talk." she said as she closed the door and locked it.

"Ok..." Burke replied nervously.

"Look, I'm not going to forgive you for what you did and I still hate you for it. Actually, you're the first person on my list that I really want to kill. But you're also my colleague and my boss, so killing you means that I'll get fired by the Chief and I"ll lose my job."

"No kidding..."

"So here it is. Our relationship," she points frantically back and forth at the space between them. "Is over. I'm over it. You're over it. You're just my boss, and I'm you're resident. There will be nothing going on between us, since there is no us."

"Can I at least say-"

"No. I want you to forget the times that we've spent together and move on with our lives._ Move on._" she emphasized the last two words strongly. Without another word or indication that she wants to hear his side of the story, she turned around, unlocked the door and quickly walked out.

"I'm glad we had this talk!" Burke called out, wondering if he was starting to regret his return.

By the end of the day, Cristina was yearning to go back to her apartment and just sleep. It was a long day, and she wants to forget about her encounter with Burke. Which is hard since she's actually living in his apartment. Which comes to a curious question, where is he going to stay? Is he going to come back to take his belongings?

As the elevator doors opened, she walked in and halted as she spoted only two people inside. Two people she dreaded to see.

"Hello Cristina." Henry smiled, eyes sparkling.

Cristina glanced from Henry to Burke at the back, who looked away immediately. It was hard to decide where she should stand, because one way or another, she couldn't avoid being next to either one of them. Cursing under her breath, she stood next to Henry as the doors closed.

"So, how was your day?" Henry asked her.

"Alright." Cristina muttered, keeping her eyes forward and trying not to look at the reflection of Burke on the doors.

"Heard you had a successful surgery today with Dr Shepherd. Well done."

"Thanks." the answer was almost unaudible.

"Are you busy tonight?"

"Why?"

"When I came to Seattle, I found a restaurant that I really like. You want to have dinner with me tonight?"

The impact struck both Cristina and Burke enormously. They both looked at Henry, wide-eyed in disbelief. Henry continued to look at her with warmth in his face.

"I um...I'm tired. I need to rest." Cristina blurted out.

"Ok. Next time then."

The doors of the elevator opened and Cristina hurried out to get away from them as fast as possible. Henry merely smiled after her in amusement.

"It's so easy to throw her off track. Very amusing." Henry said, looking up at Burke. Burke managed a smile, averting his eyes from him in case they betrayed him.

"Your apartment is not far away I believe?" Burke strayed off the topic.

"Nope. You'll like it." Henry replied cheerfully as they walked out of the hospital.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 11**

In every relationship when it comes to an end, the only way to actually suggest that it has really finished, is to move on. Some go on a trip to think over their thoughts, some gorge themselves to death with tubs of ice cream in the living room, whilst others quickly start another relationship to prove to their ex that they're _really _over each other. For some reason, the later never works out the way you've planned.

Whilst looking for her patient's folio, Henry approached Cristina with a folder in his hand.

"Good morning Dr Yang."

"Mornin' Dr Kim." Cristina said with a hint of dread.

"How was your rest last night? You slept well?"

"Very well until I woke up and realised that I was late for my shift. I'm cranky so don't bother me." Cristina continued to find the folder, avoiding Henry's eyes. From afar, Burke was walking towards them and he stood a few distances from the counter away from them. Henry didn't take any notice of him.

"Oook. Well on the other hand, I'm quite excited today. A man with a harpoon sticking out from his back, inches away from his heart and still barely alive. Apparently he was swimming and his friend thought he was a shark."

Cristina's head jerked up with sudden interest in the case.

"A harpoon? Sticking out from his back?"

"Yep. A 40 inche pole sticking out from his back." Henry held out the case, inticing her.

Like bait, Cristina's hand immediately reached out for the folder but he held back playfully.

"Only if you go out with me."

_Not this again. _Cristina moaned in her head, but suddenly caught Burke's glance, who happened to have heard what Henry had said.

_Must move on. _Cristina bit her lip and smiled back at Henry.

"Alright then."

This caught both Henry and Burke equally by surprise.

"What?" Henry faltered a little.

"I want in on the case, so I'll agree to go out with you." she took the folder, loosly held in his hands.

"Um..ok then." Henry recovered and suddenly realised his luck. "Um I'm on call tonight, so how about tomorrow after work?"

"Sure." Cristina nodded, looking quickly at Burke's expression with slight amusement and walked away.

"Well...that was unexpected." Henry laughed, looking sideways at Burke.

Burke only managed a smile. "Well Dr Kim, shall we go and check our patient from yesterday?"

"You're going out with Henry?" Meredith's eyes widened when Cristina told her the news.

"Shh, not so loud." Cristina hissed as they walked down the busy hallway.

"But I thought you were getting over Burke-"

"I am over Burke!" Cristina snapped.

"Ok then. But I thought you said that Henry was horrible."

"He is. Well he's..he's a good friend too."

Meredith suddenly knew what was really going on.

"You're trying to prove to Burke that you're over him. That's so harsh to Henry!"

"He's my friend, it's normal to go out to dinner with a friend. I go out with you for dinner and we're not dating."

"We go to Joe's to warrow in our sorrows whilst drinking mountains of taquilla."

"Whatever. Same thing."

As they walked off into the distance, Burke bumped into Derek in the hallways.

"Shepherd."

"Burke! Welcome back." Derek smiled gladly up at his friend. "Not only am I missing your company, I'm also hating you for suddenly leaving me and having to tell your ex that you've resigned without telling her."

"Shepherd, I've heard this over by the Chief and I don't really want to talk about it with you."

"Ok then. Fair enough. So how are you coping?"

"Coping?" Burke frowned slightly. "I'm fine."

"Oh come on, you see your ex everyday in the hospital now and it's obvious that you didn't talk it over with her. I can relate to that you know?"

"I'm different from you, Shepherd, I'm coping very well."

Derek examined his friend for a moment, then chuckled softly. "Very well."

"She's already started dating anyway, so we're moving on."

"Oh really?" Derek looked up in interest.

"Yes." he paused, not knowing what else to say.

"Well then, if she's moving on, that means you've moved on."

"And I have."

"Oh really?"

"Yes. I know this nurse who is working for me at the moment and I'm taking her out tomorrow."

This was all too sudden for Derek and he halted in his tracks. There was something wrong with his friend and it's not like him to take actions so suddenly. Well, not frequently. "Really?"

Burke looked back at him, surprised that he'd stopped suddenly. "What?"

Derek was about to say something, but decided against it. "Nothing. Clearly, you both have moved on."

During the surgery of the harpooned patient, Cristina only realised a moment ago before she entered that Burke was performing the surgery. She glared at Henry across the OR as it was taking place, whilst his eyes gleamed back in amusement. _What is he up to? _Cristina thought angriliy. Burke realised that both Cristina and Henry were looking at each other and tried to throw them off track.

"Dr Yang, are you interested in doing this surgery or are you more interested in staring at Dr Kim?"

Her face flushed as Cristina looked furiously at Burke, wishing that she had the scalpel in her hands instead. "I wasn't looking at him." she hissed.

"It's alright Dr Burke. Clearly Dr Yang finds my face somewhat interesting." Henry mused.

"Interesting to shove up your as-"

"Doctors! We're performing a surgery here. If you're not serious, then get out of my OR." Burke harshly snapped.

Glaring back at Henry one last time, Cristina glanced back down at the body, wishing that she didn't volunteer to go to Washington in the first place.

A few hours after the surgery, the patient came out safely and intact. Whilst checking on his condition, Cristina was still angry at Henry for tricking her into doing the surgery with Burke, and she was even more furious at Burke for embarressing her in front of all the nurses and doctors. As she recorded the results down into the chart, furiously scratching the pen into the paper and almost punchering several holes through, a young, brown-skinned nurse came in.

"Good evening Dr Yang. I'm Nurse Willows." she smiled widely and held out her hand.

Cristina looked at it and frowned. Willows awkwardly took it back, but continued to smile.

"I was one of the patient's nurses. Um, I know this is going to sound weird and you might take it offensive, but really, hear me out. I know you and Dr Burke are not...living together anymore and-"

She hesitated as Cristina looked up coldly at her.

"And the thing is well..I was wondering if it's ok...to make sure that you guys are not together anymore-"

"We're not together anymore." Cristina repeated firmly.

"Yes, that's good..I mean no! It's not good, it must've been hard on you and everything..."

As Cristina finished the charts and began to walk out, Willows jumped in front of her.

"Get out of my way." Cristina glared. "I'm not in a good mood, and you're not making it better."

"I'm very sorry, Dr Yang. Just hear me out for a moment." the nurse flustered. "But I was just wondering if...if it's ok that I can...go out with..with Dr Burke."

"You can do whatever you like with him." Cristina quickly replied without thinking, surprised at herself as much as the nurse's reaction.

"Oh really?" Willows exclaimed. "Well then...um..thank you then."

"Willows! Is the patient alright?" Dr Burke appeared from the door and the nurse jumped in surprise.

Both Burke and Cristina saw each other and the anger in Cristina flooded back again.

"The-the patient was just checked by Dr Yang." Willows replied, nervously looking back and forth at them both.

"The results are on the charts." Cristina said, her expression plain and professional. "Now will you excuse me, I have to go and check on some labs."

As she walked out, she overheard them talking in the distance.

"So are you still free tomorrow?"

"Yes! I'm very excited Dr Burke."

_So you're also moving on. _Cristina thought, feeling a sense of adrenaline._ Well if that's how you want to play, then I'll play._


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 12**

"Is it just me, or am I feeling a sense of deja vu?" Meredith said in the locker rooms as Cristina tried on several dresses in front of the mirror for the date.

"It's just you." Cristina replied back.

"Oh, is this for the new cardio surgeon?" Izzie smiled in interest when she entered with George.

"So you're moving on already?" George marvelled. "I applaud your actions, Cristina. You're so..so head on in life..."

"She's not really going on a date." Meredith pointed out. "She's only going on a date with Dr Kim in order to get back at Burke."

"It's a dinner with an old friend, this has nothing to do with Burke." Cristina snapped back and for the fifth time took a dress off and put on another one.

"Oooh, it's fun to make your ex jealous." Izze mused. "It's the only best part during a break up."

"I am _not _making him jealous!"

Finally Cristina settled for a crimson red, velvet dress and quickly threw on a pair of high heels. As she collected all the other dresses back, she found herself clawing at a purple one and recognised the last time she wore it. Her movements stopped as her eyes became glued to that dress.

"You alright Cristina?" Meredith asked.

"I'm fine." Cristina shook the memories away and threw the rest of the dresses back into her bag.

Outside, Henry was wearing a smart, slightly patterned white shirt with black pants, and had a few buttons near his collar undone to give a more casual look. His hair was slightly gelled to the side, and as he leaned against his car parked near the entrance of the hospital, Cristina couldn't help but agree with Meredith that Henry does look _slightly _hot. Or cute, whichever one. Henry caught her standing at the entrance in a black coat and he happily went over to excort her towards his car.

"Well you look lovely tonight."

"So where are we going?"

"A restaurant near here." Henry said as they walked. "You'll be surprised, they have wonderful steak there."

And when they arrived at the restaurant, Cristina indeed did get a shock of her life. It was the same restaurant she went to on her first date with Burke.

"You alright?" Henry asked when she didn't move into the restaurant.

"I'm fine." she smiled reassuringly and they entered.

The place was still the same. Nothing much changed. Many people, mostly couples, were dining against the candlelight. Memories rushed back as Cristina surveyed the semi-dark room. They were led to their seats on the far side of the restaurant, and Henry swiftly held out a chair for her to sit.

"Nice place isn't it?" Henry commented as they settled into their table and took the menues.

After ordering, they had a glass of champagne and Cristina felt slightly relaxed.

"So, I haven't heard from you ever since we graduated." Henry said. "How was med school? Heard you received a phD from Stanford and Burkley."

"Exactly. And I'm still not performing any surgeries on my own."

"Hm, impatient as always. I've done many independent ones back in Washington. Maybe you don't have the skills to do them."

"Oh I have skills." Cristina retorted. "I'm one of the top residents in Seattle Grace, and I can handle surgeries by myself. Washington is just for juniors."

"Oh really?" Henry laughed. "I assure you, Washington is one of the best hospitals in America with the best leading surgeons. Seattle Grace doesn't stand a chance, let alone a puny resident like you."

"Hey, I'm not puny. I can kick your fat ass anytime. Besides, why did you transfer here if you love Washington so much?"

"To take care of you."  
"I don't need taking care of."

"Oh yes you do. You need me." He leaned forward and Cristina recognised the challenge in his eyes. "And since I'm here, lets make the rest of the year more interesting. I bet by the end of the year, I will be able to do twenty independent surgeries myself."

Automatically, Cristina rose up to the challenge. "Oh you're on."

"I bet 50 bucks."

"60."

"80."

"Deal."

Cristina almost forgot how much she'd competed with Henry in the past, and how much fun it was. Especially when they were equally smart and equally competitive. In a way, she was glad to have him back. As they chatted and laughed about the old times, another couple entered the restaurant.

"How many?" the waiter asked.

"Two please."

Cristina's ears pricked up at the sound of the voice and she looked to see Burke and a young, beautiful woman by his side standing at the counter. She was surprised that it was actually nurse Willows. She watched as the waiter walked them to their table, but her heart sank in dread as they came closer. Henry glanced back to see what Cristina was staring at, and saw Burke.

"Dr Burke! What a surprise." Henry exclaimed when they approached their table.

"Kim. Yang." Burke was startled to find them here.

"Good evening Dr Kim, Dr Yang." Willows cheerly replied.

"No need to be polite out of the hospital, just call me Henry." Henry smiled warmly at her.

Cristina avoided their glance and busied herself with the wine menu. She really needed more alcohol.

"I didn't know you're coming here." Henry continued. "Do you like this restaurant as well Dr Burke?"

"It's been one of my favorites." he answered, trying to keep his eyes on Henry but he would at times slide over towards Cristina. "If you'll excuse us, we're going to settle on our tables."

They turned and continued following the waiter. But they didn't go far, as they were only a few steps away from Henry's and Cristina's.

"Well isn't this nice? Meeting our colleagues in the same restaurant." Henry said.

_More like a huge coincidence, _Cristina thought annoyingly.

"I never knew nurse Willows can dress up so nicely."

Cristina managed a glance back at Burke's and Willows' table. Willows was laughing at something that Burke had said. She remembered that she didn't laugh or flirt here on their first date. She watched as Burke leaned forward to whisper something into her ear, making Willows blush and giggle. The sight almost disgusted her and she turned back. Maybe Henry was right. Willows was pretty and a perfect match for Burke.

"You ok?" Henry asked. "You look pale."

_No, _Cristina thought to herself. _I must be strong. I must show that I have moved on and have forgotten about Burke._

"I'm fine. Where's the food? I'm hungry now."

After finishing their main course, Cristina was full and exhausted. But throughout their dinner, she couldn't help but look behind at Burke's table, wondering what they were doing and talking about. And every time, she would see Willows' sweet smile and Burke's calm and pleasing expression. If it wasn't for Henry asking and initiating conversations, Cristina would be looking at their table the whole night.

"Did you enjoy tonight?" she overheard Burke from behind.

"It was great. The food is wonderful here." Willows happily replied. "I see why you love this place so much."

"Did you enjoy your lobster?" Henry asked Cristina.

"It-It was fine." she managed a smile, but her ears still stood alert.

"Do you want to go see the ferryboats after?" Burke asked Willows. "Maybe we can catch one if you want."

"That would be wonderful! And the night is so beautiful as well."

Her voice was beginning to annoy Cristina, and her fingers began to dig deep into her napkin. Especially her laugh.

"I'm sorry, I haven't asked you how you felt." Willows apologized. "Maybe you're already tired from tonight."

"No, no, I'm not tired. You don't have to apologize."

"Really? Sorry, I've never been on dates. This is my first one." Willows shyly replied.

"Your first? Well I'm surprised, since you look like you know how to dress yourself up. I'm glad that I'm the first to ask you out."

Cristina furiously looked back to see Willows blushing deeply. _Disgusting._

"Henry." Cristina said loudly, making sure that Burke can hear her. "Is there anywhere else you want to go after?"

"Well, anywhere you want Cristina." he answered.

"Then why don't you come back to _my _apartment?" she emphasized.

Not surprisingly, Burke heard and he twisted his head around towards Cristina's table.

"Your-your apartment?" Henry repeated, with a hint of disbelief.

"Torres is away so I'm the only one living in there. Lets go back to my apartment and enjoy ourselves there instead."

"Um..ok then." Henry said with a smile, but was quite unsure about Cristina's tone.

Cristina smirked when her eyes caught Burke's expression from the corner as they began to leave the table. She was so proud of herself now. This whole dinner thing was so worth it. As they made their way out of the restaurant, she didn't see a napkin that had fallen to the ground, so when she stepped on it, her legs gave way and she fell back. Crying in surprise, she thought that she was going to hit the ground and suffer a terrible head concution. But something saved her fall, and when she looked up, it was Henry. She realised she had landed into his arms instead. The customers applauded for Henry's catch, some whistled.

"You ok?" Henry asked, his face closed against her's.

"I'm-I'm fine." Cristina flustered and quickly got herself back up. Her heart was pounding and her face has suddenly got red. She was confused about her reaction, wondering if it was because of Henry or the shock of the fall.

"That was a close catch." A waiter said from behind, arming playfully at Henry.

"Do you know that I can suffer serious damages if I fell?" Cristina snapped at the waiter, who immediately apologized and felt cornered by her icy glare.

"Come on, Cristina, lets get out before we draw any more attention." Henry urged her away. Cristina quickly looked to where Burke was sitting, and he, like the rest of the customers, had seen what had happened. She couldn't read his expression, but before he turned his head back slowly, she thought she saw some longing in his eyes. Sighing to herself, she turned and left the restaurant with Henry.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 13**

The next morning, both Cristina and Henry were sleep deprived from last night's 'date'. Cristina yawned immensly, trying to stay awake and taking large mouthfulls of coffee. As they entered the elevator alone, Cristina got this opportunity to talk to Henry about last night.

"Ok Henry, whatever you do, don't you ever mention about what we did to anyone."

"What did we do?" Henry yawned.

"You know..." Cristina made a motion with her eyes, gritting her teeth at a thought of Henry forgetting about what they did.

"Ooohhh!" Henry slowly smiled knowingly. His eyes sparkled with cheek. "Why? So Burke wouldn't know?"

"Shut up!" Cristina hit him hard on the arm. "Especially Burke."

"Aw come on, what's wrong with getting your ex a little jealous?" he playfully said. "We were both a little typsy and we decided to have a little fun."

"Hen-"

"Besides," He raised his arm and leaned closely against the wall behind Cristina, trapping her in front of him.

"What if I do tell him about what we did?" he seductivly replied, his face close towards her's.

"Then I'll ram lots of very sharp scalpels into your ass when you're not looking. Now get off of me!"

"Gosh I love it when you talk rough. Which goes with what you did to me last night..."

"Henry, if you don't stop talking, I will seriously not hesitate and kick the little things that you hold dear most and make sure that you will never use them again."

"Why? Cause you like them?"

"Ok Henry, you are seriously getting onto my nerves-!"

The doors to the elevator opened and when Burke entered, he halted to see Henry leaning very close against Cristina, both looking very surprised to see him enter.

"Dr Burke, you're early this morning!" Henry released her and smiled cheerfully up at Burke.

"I had to cover some of the shifts for Hahn." Burke steadly replied, looking at Henry and then at Cristina, who avoided his glance.

"So how was your date with Willows?" Henry asked.

"It went really nicely." He paused before asking him back. "And yours?"

"It was a enjoyable evening, thank you. Wasn't it Dr Yang?"

Cristina bit her lips hard for trying not to swear at Henry, only managing a grunt.

"Well I hope to inform you Dr Kim, that this is a hospital and a working environment, so try to keep all your personal matters and..actions to yourselves." Burke's hint of annoyance was obvious.

"Dully noted, Dr Burke."

"Like that never happened before with you." Cristina muttered.

"Excuse me, Dr Yang?" Burke raised his voice.

"I said does that also include doctors and nurses sleeping in empty labs and on-call rooms?" Cristina turned and for the first time since he came here, looked up at him with a challenging and mocking expression.

When the doors opened again, Burke was the first to leave before the other two.

"That was wonderful." Henry announced, playfully applauding her. "You made him jealous."

"_You _were leaning against me!" Cristina hissed back.

"And don't you like it when I do that?"

Letting out a sigh of frustration, Cristina stormed out of the elevator.

"So did you guys do it?" Was the first question from Izzie when the trio met up at lunch.

"What?" Cristina asked as if she couldn't hear what Izzie had just said.  
"She means did you and Kim have sex last night." Meredith answered for her.

"Yes, I know what she meant." Cristina snapped. "And it's none of your business."

Buth both Meredith and Izzie gave each other knowing looks.

"Stop looking like that."

"Cristina, there's no shame in telling us if you had it with Kim or not. You should be proud, cause we're not getting any here." Izzie morbidly indicated to Meredith and herself.

"And there's nothing wrong with going out with Dr Kim." Meredith assured.

"Hey, heard you and Kim are the new famous couple." George suddenly came up by their table.

"New coupl-Does the whole hospital know about this?!" Cristina angrily hissed.

As on cue, Alex came up behind her. "Well we know that you slipped and gracefully fell into his arms. Nice one Yang." he smirked.

Cristina suddenly burst up from her chair, arms steady against the table.

"I...am going to check on my patient." And she walked away, leaving the rest laughing at her angry and sudden response.

Henry was hurrying to his valve transplant when Cristina suddenly burst out beside him and dragged him aside.

"Ow, ow, I'm late for my transplant-!"

"How many people know that we're a couple?" Cristina hissed.

"Is that a problem?"

"Well everyone knows about the restaurant incident,"

"What about the sex?"

Cristina smacked him hard on the arm.

"Shut up about the sex, you've already made a good impression about it in front of my boss. Our boss!"

"You mean Burke."

"Whatever. Just stop talking about us being a couple."

"Why? Isn't that what you wanted?"

This made Cristina paused for a moment, remembering what she'd said at her apartment last night.

"If you excuse me, Dr Yang, I will like to go and complete my valve tranplant." With a quick smile, Henry turned and left her. But after a few seconds, he turned and called back to Cristina.

"I'm playing at Joe's bar tonight! And I expect to see you there."

The statement sounded familiar to Cristina, and she realised what he meant was that he'll be playing with his band. From what she remembered, and Henry never let her forget, he used to be famous for playing as electric in a band that won a great deal of local fans. Perhaps if she did have time, she could drop by at Joe's and see if his skills were still in shape. Whilst at the same time, she could explain and brood over with Meredith about her present, messed up relationship that's not really going anywhere.

When Cristina and Meredith arrived at the bar, it was surprisingly more packed than usual, mainly because almost half of the bar was taken up by the stage. On stage, five people were setting up their instruments and Cristina sorted out Henry in the group.

"Wow, so many people." Meredith said in awe as they tried to make their way to the bar table where Izzie and George were.

"Check it out, it's the first time Joe's bar had a band." Izzie marvelled. "And I never knew Dr Kim's band was so popular."

"Well, I rounded up some friends and supporters so it can fit the atmosphere." Joe popped up from behind the bar. "My first rock band guys. I should get more, shouldn't I?"

"What's next? A couple of nurses trying to become the next Spice Girls?" Cristina sniggered and chucked a few peanuts into her mouth.

She caught Meredith looking through the crowd, and when she followed her stare, she saw Dr Shepherd and Rose sitting together on a table.

"Hey, McDreamy is here too." Cristina said amusingly.

"Almost all the hospital staff is here." George said almost hysterically, looking back and forth at the stage to see if they've started playing yet. "I've heard that they're realy good."

"Oh come on George, they're not famous rock stars. Stop acting all shrilly and fangirly." Cristina grumpily replied.

"I'm not shrilly!"

"That's your boyfriend up there, have some support for him." Meredith smiled fondly back after tearing her eyes away from Derek.

"He's not my boyfriend Meredith, and that's what I wanted to talk to you about-"

Before she could finish, the door to the bar opened and Burke and Willows came in. For a moment Cristina and Burke caught each other's eyes and held, then quickly darted away before anyone would notice. Rose caught Willows' attention and waved for her and Burke to join their table.

"Why is it always us?" Cristina muttered to Meredith as she looked to where Burke had sat down. "We both slept with our bosses, we both brooded over them after our break up, and now we see them going out with nurses."

"We're both unlucky." Meredith agreed as she followed her gaze depressingly.

"Ok people, we're about to start." Somone on stage suddenly bellowed out onto the microphone and received a huge applause.

"Thank you all for coming." he continued. "We haven't played for ages since high school in Los Angeles, and I guess it was luck that brought us boys back together in Seattle. I believe most of you are doctors and nurses from the hospital across the street, thanks to our man Henry here," he turned to Henry who shyly smiled back. "And can we have an applause for Henry here!"

The whole bar errupted in applause and whistles, and Cristina was astounded to see how popular Henry has become after working at Seattle for less than a month.

"So before we keep you waiting, we'll start off the night with one of our best classics."

Without hesitation, the drums, guiters and the electric piano started off into a loud, fast rhythm, and the man on the microphone after a few beats belted out words in a voice that sounded nothing like how he spoke. It was clear that he, along with the band, had not aged in their music. Cristina was sure of that. She recognised this song , since it was one of her favorites. She also remembered hearing Henry singing the tune all the time back at school. She watched as Henry skillfuly played his electric, his finger movements hard to keep up. His eyes were fixed in concentration, but as they began to reach the chorus, the fun was about to begin. Cristina amused herself as she watched Henry's eyes and expression exploded to a sense of wildness, which hasn't changed at all. His voice still provided a great back-up, and the band never missed a beat or note. The atmosphere almost took Cristina back to high school, when she was looking admirably at the band like the rest of the neighbouring kids. At times, Henry would sing and look back at Cristina, smiling as he sang his words and struck his chords. Meredith and Izzie nudged her everytime he did that. Once when the band reached an interlude and it was where the guiters went solo, Henry took centre stage and showed off his skills as he mastered the fast and high chords whilst keeping a cool, steady posture. His fringe swayed swiftly in front of his eyes as his hand moved rapidly across the strings, almost as if he was at breaking point. But when the last beat was struck, he finished with a definite note and everyone screamed and whistled like people at a mosh pit. The lead singer patted him on the back as he returned to the chorus. When the first song finished, everyone erupted in applause, especially Joe who clapped his massive hands repetitivly until they went red.

"Was...that..hot, or what?" George gasped.

"Man, I now see Dr Kim as a different man. No offence or anything Cristina." Izzie quickly reinstated.

Before she could say anything to back that comment, Cristina spotted the blue towel Henry was using and recognised it as hers that she kept in her bathroom.

"Oh that bastard!" she exclaimed. "He's using my face towel!"

As if he heard, Henry looked up and smiled gleefuly at her. He chucked the towel in the air and Cristina caught it in surprise, holding it out away from herself the moment she thought of his sweat on her towel.

"Oh he is dead.."

"So has he moved in into your apartment?" Meredith asked.

"No! He is not moving in, and he is definitely not using my bathroom. And stop looking at me like that, that night was not what you think it was-"

As she argued with her friends, she didn't notice that Burke was staring at her from the distance. Throughout the performance he was looking to see how she reacted, and not surprisingly, she was smiling the whole way through at the band. Especially when Henry did his solo performance. Burke couldn't help but feel a sense of jealously rising up whenever he thought back to how Cristina looked at Henry at that time. He didn't recall her looking at him like that whenever he played his trumpet whilst he was still living with her in his apartment. The thought of his apartment almost brought him to anger and frustration because he knew that Henry went back with Cristina that night, and did...things that he didn't want to imagine in _his _apartment. On _his _bed, or couch. Or _both_. He almost wanted to punch Henry that morning when he saw him leaning close against Cristina, but he soon felt a sense of guilt and regret since Henry was also his friend and student. And besides, it was over between him and Cristina. He shouldn't feel jealous about Cristina going out with another person. It wasn't his business anymore. He should move on like her.

"Wasn't Dr Kim awesome on the guiter?" Willows commented that broke Burke's trail of thought.

"Didn't know he had it in him." Derek laughed, looking fondly at Burke for an answer.

"Yes, surprised me too." Burke smiled back, then looking up at Henry to give him a pleasing nod. It was hard to think of Henry as his enemy, which he wasn't in a way. Cristina was not part of his life anymore, and he should finally give her up for the third time.


	15. Chapter 15

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Just one chapter slowly at a time, heheh =D Just a warning guys, the italics you will come across in some paragraphs are the parts where it goes back to after Henry's and Cristina's date. Happy reading!_

**Chapter 14**

The morning was already busy at the hospital as the winter season kicked in. Depite being the popular season for its snow and Christmas holidays, it was also the season where the hospital receives an avalanche of patients diagnosed with the flu.

"Can winter get any more boring?" Cristina complained as she checked her 50th flu patient down at the clinic.

"What do you mean boring?" George piped up. "There's snow everywhere and we can go skiing and have snow ball fights-"

And right on time, a snow ball hit him square into his head, almost knocking him out.

"Kirav, did I see you bring snow into the clinc?" Bailey's voice roared from afar and Alex scrambled away before George could reach him.

Entering after Alex was Dr Burke, who looked very annoyed and pissed at his situation.

"Bailey, I need some people helping me with a triple bypass? There is barely anyone in the hospital-"

"Due to the flu? I know." Bailey replied. "Almost half of the hospital interns and residents turning in sick. It surprises me that some people can't even look after their own bodies despite being doctors."

"I'm sorry I'm late." Merideth gasped from behind, blowing into her already over-used hanky in an attempt to clear her clogged-up nose.

"You're sick!" Bailey snapped.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I can still work." Meredith said, yet her watery eyes and the sick sound of her voice told a different story.

"Go home!"

"But Dr Burke needs someone for the triple bypass right? I can do it!"

"No you're not, you're staying here. I don't want you sneezing all over the patient's insides and spreading the flu to the rest of the nurses and doctors. Our hospital is running half empty as it is! Yang! O'Maley! Go with Dr Burke for the heart surgery."

Even if she was invited by Satan himself, Cristina would agree to help in the OR in order to get away from the clinic. As the two residents joined Burke back into the main hospital building, Burke turned to O'Maley and gave orders to quickly get the anesthician as fast as possible to the OR room. For a moment George glanced over at Cristina, reluctant to let them both go to the OR room together in case she felt uncomfortable with her former fiance. But Burke gave him a cold, hard look, and George reluctantly walked the other way. Waiting in front of the elevator doors, Cristina tried to stand away and avert her gaze from Burke as far as possible, When the doors opened, she realised with a sinking heart that it would just be the two of them in the elevator. Standing somewhat behind Burke at the corner, she held her breath as she knew he was going to say something. Her eyes slowly trailed up at the reflection of Burke's face to read his expression, but quickily regretted it when he saw her looking.

"So how was your date?" he asked in a normal casual tone.

"Um...good." she replied bluntly.

"Are you ok?"

"Pardon?"

"I mean...when you almost fell...until Henry...caught...you..."

She could sense the nervousness in his tone, and she didn't like where he was going to head in this conversation.

"Oh, I'm fine." Cristina said, trying to manage a thin, reassuring smile. _Why does he care?_ She thought. _He's not my boyfriend anymore. But wait, is he asking in a friendly sort of way like a friend would? But does he consider me as his friend? Well I sure don't after what he'd done to me... Perhaps he's asking me like a fellow worker would. Well we can't really ignore each other since we work together...Wait, why am I'm even caring about what he thinks? Am I getting sick?_

"Are you sick?" Burke suddenly asked when he saw Cristina touching her forehead with her palm.

"Huh? Oh no, I'm fine."

Another pause. Cristina looked up to see what level they are up to, wishing that they would arrive soon.

Burke cleared his voice.

"About our last...conversation we had."

"Huh?"

"Where you gave me your opinion about _us."_

_Oh boy, _Cristina thought, biting her lip.

"Were you going to give me a chance to hear my side of the story?"

Just on time, the bell to the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Cristina quickly zipped out and exhaled, not realising that she had been holding her breath during the whole ride. She didn't want to hear further responses from Burke, so instead she walked ahead of him, aiming for the surgery room. Burke sighed, knowing that this was going to be a hard ordeal. Letting it go for now, he tried to concentrate on the surgery and followed Cristina towards the OR.

* * *

"_Wow, you live here?" Henry marvelled as Cristina opened the door to her apartment. _

_Inside, random pieces of clothing and books were sprawled everywhere from the TV, couch, to the kitchen bench._

"_You live here alone?" Henry asked as he stepped over a creased polo shirt and moved his way to the couch where he dumped his evening jacket._

"_Nope, she's just over at her family's. Hence why all my clothes are everywhere." _

"_Rrright."_

_With a heavy sigh, Cristina dropped down onto the couch next to Henry. There was a silence as they thought about what they should do next._

"_So." Henry started._

"_So."_

_Silence._

"_Well like most traditional American dates, when the girl invites the guy back into her apartment, I believe there's something that they both do."_

_Cristina slowly looked up at him to see if he was serious. _

"_You've been watching too many TV."_

"_You think I don't stand a chance?" he replied challenginly._

_The corner of Cristina's lips slowly edged into a smile._

"_Oh? You want to try?"_

_Henry leaned over, his face inches from her face, and whispered._

"_I'm ready when you are."_

"_Your ass is in my face, Kim!" _

"_Exactly where I want it to be, Yang."_

_With a annoying grunt, Cristina arched her body upwards and strained to move her right hand onto the red plastic circle._

"_Done!"_

"_Left leg on blue."_

"_Argh! This is killing me!" _

_Their bodies already in a tangle, they tried to reach for their closest target without falling over. _

"_Are you sure...that this is healthy?" Henry chuckled and tried to maintain his balance._

"_What? Playing Twister after dinner? Makes the date more interesting doesn't it?"_

_Finally, Henry couldn't hold it much longer and collapsed onto the plastic mat._

"_Ha! I win again."_

"_Well girls are generally more flexible than guys." he replied in a matter-of-fact tone._

"_That's low Henry, blaming it on gender differences." she untwisted herself and sat down next to him._

"_Well then," Henry exhaled and sat back up. "Would you like to tell me about your relationship with Burke now?"_

_The fun atmosphere was suddenly over, and Cristina turned cold at the sound of Burke's name._

"_And don't run away this time." Henry said. "I'm your best friend, I know when something's wrong. You know how I hate it when you bail out on me and act like nothing's wrong."_

_'"It's none of your business."_

"_You're my best friend, and Burke's my boss. You reckon it's still not my business?"_

_Cristina said nothing for a moment, her eyes full of worry and trouble. Henry waited patiently for her to speak._

"_You're treading on dangerous territory here." Cristina replied._

"_I always do." Henry faintly smiled._

_She looked up at him, seeing the warm and understanding side of Henry. With a heavy sigh, she dropped back down onto the Twister playboard._

"_Fine. Where should I start?"_

_The clock struck 3 am when Cristina finally finished. Henry stared down at his coffee mug, trying to take in everything that she'd exposed to him. Cristina laid her heavy head down on the couch, somehow feeling lighter that she'd told Henry about her past in Seattle Grace. _

"_Sooo you're using me to make Burke jealous?" Henry asked._

"_Yes." she said bluntly._

"_Nice way to get back your ex."_

"_Oh no, I have no intentions on getting him back." she strongly disagreed. "I'm just getting my revenge."_

"_Revenge for walking out on you?"_

"_Yep."_

_There was a pause as Henry looked away, staring out at the window where it's still dark. After a while, he opened his lips but didn't looked at her._

"_Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you should listen to his side of the story first?"_

_At the sound of this, Cristina looked sadly up at him, knowing that he was going to bring it up sometime or later._

"_Well?" Henry said when he didn't hear her answer._

_And she didn't give him a reply. But he knew already what his friend was thinking._

_

* * *

_

After four long hours, Burke sewed up the patient and declared a finish to the surgery.

"Shall I inform the family about the patient's condition?" O'Maley asked.

"Go ahead." Burke nodded.

As George threw away the surgical gloves and made his way out, Burke's eyes trailed along to where Cristina was standing. She was already hastily making her way out. He must catch up to her.

Outside, Cristina took in a few bit of fresh air and exhaled heavily. She realised how stupid she was that being in a surgical room with Burke for four whole hours was already too much for her. If this continues on, she doesn't know how her career may continue. But she was unwilling to give up. She has to stand tall and strong, showing her ex that she was no longer affected by his departure and his return.

As she made her way through the corridors to get to where her patient charts were, a firm hand suddenly grasped her on the arm and shoved her into a dark and empty on-call room.

"What the hell?"

The person closed the door shut and turned on the lights. To her despair, she looked up at the towering Burke with strong determination in his dark eyes.

"Now, you want to hear my side of the story?"


	16. Chapter 16

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry for the very very long delay! These are the 2 chapters I've written ages ago but never got the time to publish them . I haven't worked on this fanfic for ages now, & it was going to remain unfinished. But if people still enjoy it and can't wait for it to continue and finish, then I'll try my best to upload new chaps in the future =)_

**Chapter 15**

"I have no intention on hearing your story." Cristina retorted.

"Cristina,"

"I have no intention on forgiving what you did to me at that altar."

"Cristina!"

"And I have no intention on – on spending more than one freakin' minute alone with you in this room-"

"CRISTINA!"  
"What?"

Her eyes burnt with anger and hatred at that moment, and Burke tried so hard not to look away hurt.

"Look Cristina, I know what I did to you was-"

"Damn right you were." she muttered and pushed herself around him to get to the door.

"Damn it Cristina, can't you at least listen to what I have to say?" Burke grabbed her both by the shoulders, not realising his tight grip around her.

"You!" Overcome by anger and the shock from his touch after all these years, Cristina shoved his hands away and gave him a cold, dark glare. "You...You have no right to give me any explanation about that day. After all the things I went through I-" she hesitated, realising that not only did she loathe him after all this time, the way she missed him was just as equivalent.

"I don't want to talk to you again." she recovered. Without hearing another word from him, Cristina twisted around and headed out the door, slamming it behind her. As she steadily walked down the hallway, it suddenly clicked in her mind that she was a resident majoring as a cardiac surgeon, which means it would be impossible for her _not_ to talk to Burke again.

"Damn it," she cursed under her breath. She hates it when her remarks leaves loop-holes.

"What are you damning about?" Meredith suddenly walked up beside her.

"Everything."

It was around mid afternoon when George went up to the Chief's office after getting a page from him. When he arrived outside his door, he almost collided into Henry just as he was about to reach for the knob. Quickly apologising, George couldn't help but see a hint of grimness in Henry's expression. As the Washington transfer surgeon briskly walked away, George entered the Chief's office whose back was turned away from him.

"Um..sir? You paged?"

The Chief turned around in surprise as if he didn't expect George to arrive so quickly.

"Ah yes, O'Malley, have a seat."

George nodded and sat down in front of his desk. As he looked up at the Chief's expression to try and guess what sort of news it was, again, the Chief looked just as grim as Henry was before. _Why is everyone so sad and grim around here today?_ He wondered, remembering seeing Cristina just as he was about to see the Chief. _But then again, this is a hospital._

"O'Malley, I'm assigning you to help in a very serious procedure that concerns a close friend of mine. Since Dr Kim is leaving us tomorrow-"

"Dr Kim is leaving?" George exclaimed.

"Yes."

"Well does that..does that mean Dr Burke is also leaving?" He almost wished he didn't say that.

The Chief raised one of his eyebrows, eyes narrowing at the intern.

"Um sorry sir..I'm just curious." George tried to recover, forcing a smile. In his mind, he knew he was worried about Cristina, and if Burke is out of the hospital, perhaps she could finally return to her normal self.

"Um well sir, since Dr Burke has been a great superior and teacher to me..I mean, _one_ of the great superiors of course, haha..since well you sir, is also as intelligent as-"

"Thats it, O'Malley." the Chief warned before his temper gets to him. "Yes, Dr Burke is returning to Washington along with his student. Now, do you still want in for the surgery or would you rather investigate into other people's affairs for the rest of the day?"

"N-no sir! I want in! I want in!"


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 16**

"Hey Cristina!"

Cristina turned her head slightly up from her patient's folder, seeing Henry's annoyingly cheery expression, then went back to the patient's chart. _How can someone be this cheery so early in the morning?_ She wondered.

"Hey Cristina," Henry stopped right beside her, making Cristina groan under her breathe.

"Yes, Dr Kim?"

"I'm here to tell you that...I'm leaving today, back to Washington."

Cristina looked up in surprise, wondering if her friend was pulling her leg.

"Leaving? You kidding? Didn't you want to stay at Seattle for longer than 3 months?"

'Yes, but something um...came up."

Cristina frowned a little, wondering if her friend was alright.

"Came..up? Your mum's still mourning over your father?"

"No no, mum's fine...and dad's not dead yet..."

"Oh right...so what's wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing drastic really. One of my patients...well Burke's patient is in critical condition and they need Burke to operate."

"But they only need Burke, you don't have to-"

"Burke said I should go back with him!" Henry suddenly snapped, which was really unnatural and rare of him. There a was slight pause, thankfully saved by Cristina's soft smirk. "Woah,did Henry Weny just snap at me?" she held her hands up in feigned defence. "I was starting to worry that you no longer possess any emotions of anger or irritation where you treat the whole world around you like a freakin' Disney movie."

"Cristina-"

"Hey Mickey, don't worry, if you need to go back I'm not stopping you. Lets just say since your arrival I had a very interesting yet disturbing experience for the past few days, and I'll be glad that life around here will return to normal once you leave."

"With Burke."

"Especially with Burke." she murmured, concentrating back to her patient's files.

"Soo...are you going to see me out this afternoon?" Henry leaned down to Cristina's eye-level, giving her the sweet, charming look that most girls would swoon over. Well, most girls other than Cristina, who remains unmoved and continued filling out her files.

"Yea yea Snow White, I'll also make sure your skirt doesn't fly up when the wind comes so that everyone would see your lady bits."

"Charming to the last," he gave a big smile and hit her lightly on the head with a folder he just took from the counter.

"See ya later, Grumpy."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 17**

"I just performed a very awesome heart surgery just then." George exclaimed cheerfully as he joined his gang in their usual dark and deserted hallway where they could study, sleep or gossip to themselves. "And on the subject of hearts, are you guys going to Burke's cardio lecture this afternoon?"

"No"

"No"

"Yeh, wouldn't miss it."

Meredith and Izzie casted evil glares at Alex.

"What? Oh right, Cristina..."

But Cristina appeared unmoved as she continued reading a copy of Dorlan's Medical Dictionary. "Look guys, I don't care if you all went and wore matching jumpers with Burke's face on it with a banner spelling out his name and cheering like a bunch of crazy fan-girls, if you wanna go, just go."

"Cristina-"

"I'm going too."

All four of them were hit back by the response. They didn't expect that coming out of her so soon.

"What?" Cristina looked up. "I told you, I'm over him. Since this is a cardio lecture which is in my field, it is relevant for me to go right?"

"Why..yes..yes" they all muttered and nodded, exchanging nervous glances at each other.

But still, Cristina didn't want to discuss any further on the subject.

"Good." she firmly replied.

"Good." the others agreed.

There was a long, uncomfortable pause. Thankfully, all their pages went off simultaneously to save them.

The newly refurnished lecture room in the south wing still had the faint smell of new paint and furniture, but that didn't disturb Cristina like it used to when she entered that afternoon. The room was already full so she had to stand near the doorway as the chief was about to announce Burke. Both Henry and Burke were sitting behind him. The room automatically died down when the lights dimmed, illuminating the chief and the large slide screen at the back.

"Most of you may recognise him along the hallways recently as Washington Hospital's chief cardiothoracic surgeon, or known him back when he used to work here in Seattle Grace. Today is his last day here, and he's here to give a special lecture to you all. I give you Dr Preston Burke."

Although there was a loud applause as Dr Burke took over the stage, Cristina's world turned quiet and it seemed like forever when Burke finally reached the microphone and began to speak. Interns already had pens poised against their notebooks, ready to note down any wise words uttered by one of the top heart surgeons in America.

"Welcome," he beamed out to the audience, and that was the only thing Cristina heard in that lecture. Instead, familiar words came out of his lips.

"_But you don't want to do this. I'm up there waiting for you to come down the aisle, and I knew you don't want to come...but that you'll come anyway because you love me. And if I loved you...you're not the woman that I'm trying to make you be, not the woman that I hope you'll become."_

It was all coming back to her now. The scene that she forced herself to forget after all this time.

"_I wouldn't be up there waiting for you. I would be letting you go."_

But I wanted to be with you, Cristina thought. I really thought that it would work.

"_And I really wish that you didn't think. I wish that you knew."_

It pains her to admit the truth in those words. She was angry at him for leaving her like that, but she was also angry at herself for not being at the same level as Burke. If it wasn't for that, he would still be working at Seattle Grace. On the other hand, somehow it also freed her - leaving a very bitter taste. She couldn't even handle hearing or seeing a single trumpet without it reminding her of Burke.

Someone was shaking her shoulder and she snapped out from her thoughts. _Thank god, I needed that._

It was Meredith, and she was pointing to the stage. "-collapsed! Dr Kim just collapsed!"

The sudden change in atmosphere hit Cristina hard as the lights were turned back on and people were talking and standing up, trying to see what had happened. Between the gaps, she could see the chief and Burke hovering over Henry, his body limp on the ground. Cristina's first instinct was to run down the stairs and rush over to her friend, but there was too many people and she couldn't get herself down quick enough. When she reached the stage, Henry was already hoisted onto a bed and the nurses were taking him away with Burke and the chief in toe.

"Cristina!" Meredith called from behind.

"What happened? Why did he collapse?" Cristina rounded to her, desperately trying to made sense of what she missed.

"I-I don't know. He just suddenly fell from his chair-"

But before she could finish her sentence, Cristina was already heading off after Henry and the doctors.

* * *

"_Seattle Grace huh?" Henry replied after hearing Cristina break the news to him. It has been half an hour since Cristina received the letter from Seattle Grace hospital, fully confident that she was accepted. _I mean, judging from the timing of the letter and how well I impressed them during the interview_, _it was obvious that I was in. _She thought smugly to herself._

"_Well that's not so far from Washington..." Henry trailed off on the other end of the phone._

"_Henry, from kindergarden to high school, somehow we've always ended up in the same institution. God knows how much I want to be accepted in a place where I don't have to see your face full of sunshine everyday."_

"_You do remember that I never really got to see you during the college years?"_

"_Yes, but after seeing you at Christmas last year you haven't changed a bit and you're still frustratingly annoying."_

"_And you still have your charm as always."_

_Cristina looked out of the window from the 19__th__ century European lounge that was newly furnished from her mother. God, by next week, she will leave all this. All the ridiculous furnishing, the constant sunshine, the constant warmth..._

"_Have you told your mother?" Henry asked._

"_Not yet, she's probably still out buying a sofa or something." she answered with an unmistakeable hint of disgust._

"_You don't take after your mother do you?"_

"_How painful my life would be if I did." _

_There was a short chuckle from the other end. _

"_Hey Cris, um..."_

_She might have sensed him being a little tense, but then again, he could be harbouring another joke as usual._

"_What?"_

_He didn't reply immediately, and she thought she heard him hesitate. Before she could asked again, he _

_answered in his normal friendly tone,_

"_Once I become resident, I will visit you in Seattle."_

"_Well, that would take a couple of years to wait." _

_She thought she sounded a bit caring for that reply, so before she could allow him to comment, she quickly said "Which is perfect."_

"_Ooh, I thought I had you then."_

"_You never will. Ah I see my mother coming up the road. Time to tell her the news."_

"_Alright. Enjoy Seattle."_

_Cristina smiled, feeling very triumphant that her life has suddenly started out the way she wanted._

"_I sure will."_

_

* * *

_

Sounds of defibrillators, EKG machines, doctors and nurses filled Cristina's head as she watched from the window of the emergency surgery room. Her friend lay motionless on the bed as scalpels and needles plunged into his skin. For once she was scared for Henry. She didn't know what was wrong with him and he never told her about any depletion in his health. He looked fine to her, like normal Henry used to be. Perhaps she missed something? Maybe she wasn't listening when she should've? She griped the sides of the window ledge as she watched the procedure taking place. Burke and Shepherd were in there as well. Was there something wrong with his heart or his brain? An allergic reaction? Henry never mentioned he had any allergies.

Cristina wasn't aware of how long time seemed to drift by whilst watching her friend being revived, but in the end, she wished it went longer. She wished the doctors and nurses wouldn't stop. She wished they wouldn't just stand there and give up, staring at the lifeless body in front of them. She wished the sound of the EKG wouldn't give up either, and just start beeping again to give a chance of life and hope.

She wished to see Henry alive.

"Time of death, 1.54pm." one of the doctors announced inside.

She didn't want to believe it. She didn't want to believe that this has happened all at once. She was supposed to see Henry again tomorrow before he leaves, he was supposed to return to Washington! _This is all a lie. _This was a prank, a very cruel prank that he was pulling on her. He would never really...

She needed to get in there. She needed to wake him up, telling him that she can see through his act. Telling him what an idiot he was for wasting everyone's time.

Finding her feet, she sped to the door and reached for the handle. But the door opened before her and Burke blocked her path.

"Let me see him!" she declared. "He's not dead, he's just playing a sick prank on me! He's not dead, I'll show you!"

She tried to push past him, but Burke's powerful hands held her back.

"Cristina, stop. We just called the time of death-"

"He's not dead! Henry is fine, why on earth would he just die?"

Burke just stared sadly down at her, realising that Henry never told her about his condition.

"Let me go! He's not dead!" Cristina continued to struggle. Doctors and nurses inside were beginning to pack up and leave.

"He's not dead!"

"Cristina, Cristina!" Burke tried to calm her down. It wouldn't be easy with what he was about to reveal to her, knowing how close she was with Henry. "It's a tumour. He's been growing a tumour in his brain that would eventually block his breathing systems. It was impossible to remove it without endangering his life."  
"But...I.." she was lost for words. She stared at the hospital bed, never imagining that she would see her close friend lying lifeless in front of her.

"I'm sorry." Burke said.

_So Burke knew. _Cristina thought. Henry never planned to tell her about it, knowing very well how she would react. He was always thinking of everyone else, always thinking of her before himself. _Stupid Henry. Stupid, stupid Henry._

"Why didn't you tell me?" she suddenly shouted up at Burke. "Why the hell did you keep it from me? What is wrong with you?"

Whether those words were intended for Burke or Henry, she didn't care. It was then that she really broke down, suddenly releasing all her feelings from Burke's sudden appearance to Henry's sudden permanent departure. The world swirled around her, and she clutched onto Burke's arms to steady herself.

"I'm so sorry." he repeated, softer this time, trying not to break his voice. Henry was also a close friend to him ever since he arrived in Washington hospital. He quickly became a close companion and kept him sane and working after painfully leaving Cristina at the alter.

He felt Cristina beginning to shed the first rain of tears, so he held her close to him. At first she seemed to resist, but she gave up and quivered against his body, letting her tears soak into his coat. This might be the only and last time that they would be this close, but at least for the moment, they needed to grieve together. Grieve for the lost of their close friend.

**The End**

**

* * *

**

_Author's Note: Oh god I've finally finished this after 3 years. I apologize if people didn't like the ending, after reading it myself I thought it was a bit quick to kill off Henry lol. But I had the idea that Henry's death would bring Burke and Cristina together. I guess it seems like the story could still continue, but frankly, I can't be bothered =p _

_Thanks to those who've favourited and liked the story, I really appreciate it =) Hope your love of GA lasted longer than mine haha XD _


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